right now my dog eats pedigree. no problems at all, fine stools, loves the taste, tons of energy. but i know its not that good for her. ive been feeding it to her, one cause thats what my parents have fed their/my dogs all my life, and two im broke as a joke

but id like to step up to a better dog food to help her gain muscle mass and help her coat and all around health. i noticed in the dog food thread alot off people recommended wellness and other foods i cant get around me

basically i can get things like science diet, bill-jac, nutro, pro-plan, eukanuba, iams, etc etc (stuff you can see at petsmart.com and petco.com as they are the only pet stores near me). is bil-jac good, thats what the petsmart people recommended? they gave up a sample thing and kya loved it

which of these is the best for the dog for mass and energy and her coat, and just basic health. not only brand but which actual food (like high energy or performance or what not)

I know there has to be at least one health food store in Tallahassee, which is where you find the better foods. Bil-jac is good and some swaer by it, it is still by-products though. Mine lived well on the Nutro with extra glucosamine (blue bag) for a while before moving to Innova.

Ok Tally,
If all you have to deal with is Petsmart then see if they carry Blue. Stay away from Bil Jac. Blue reads far better than anything else they carry, it's not a food I would rate very high but it's better than a lot that's out there. I can't tell you the price but it's going to be less than a lot of the foods we carry. Another one to look for is Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul. It's not all that great but way better than what you are currently feeding. One thing to keep in mind, you feed a better quality food and she will eat less. It may cost more but after all is said and done it costs far less.

:roll: Hit submit too fast.
Word of warning, be careful with "perfomance" foods, they are "high" in protein but it's grain protein and that's not necessarily good for you pooch. The same goes for puppy foods. Not good for adults since they over supplement it.

Barbponys, what didn't your dog(s) like about Chicken Soup? Just curious, because after reading the ingredients, the only food I've found that compares is Wellness which is way overpriced in my opinion.

I don't like that it makes them greasy. The smell of the food is offensive too, if it smells bad going in it usually smells worse coming out. It's a much lower quality food than Wellness, hence the price difference. Wellness doesn't work well for everyone, my dogs for example, but they definitely use better ingredients. My dogs don't tolerate the fish in it well, strange but true. They get raw fish and do fine, but not a lot of it. I'm not a huge fan of the fact that they use chicken, turkey, duck and salmon. Too many protein sources. White rice, potatoes, oatmeal..... too much starch. Egg product? Natural chicken flavor?? I also don't care for the parent company, Diamond. They have yet to make a product I can stand behind with confidence.

I was just curious because I have no basis of comparison. My dog has eaten it since I got him. He doesn't "gobble it up" but he looks good to me. Maybe I should switch. I thought that all of the protein sources would be a good thing since it offers variety vs. other brands. Why can't there just be one best food for all dogs?!?!?!?!? One that magically adapts to all dogs.

OHHH would that it worked that way! I guess that's like people, I love asian food and my hubby doesn't. He LOOOOVES German food and I don't care for it.
There are enough choices out there that you should be able to find one that you both can live with. Variety of protein while sounding like a good idea can be hard on them. They've added everything AND the kitchen sink to Chicken Soup, too much. You should find a food that he loves, doesn't need to eat you out of house and home to maintain weight and energy. He doesn't shed like a demon, stink or have gas. In the food game......... there is always a new kid on the block, when you find one that works for your kid stick with it unless the new one is so much better you feel you need to change him. My dog ate the same dry food for almost 7 years, I was waiting for a good one to come along. It finally did. Good luck.

hi there
we fed kaya for a few years on pedigree and she was fine as we thought because she had a great coat and her health seemed generally well, but the problem is underneath that shiny coat where the damage is being done. KAYA is now on her last legs and it is only since we started reading this site that we released that the pedigree was doing her bad due to the grain. If you take one thing away from this post then please take advise from the people writing as they know what they are talking about and are there for the dogs and not the profit. we only wish that we would have seen this site sooner and we might have a more healthier dog now. she has had 4 cancer tumours, 3 operations, arthritis and now a condition in back legs. i think this is too much seen as we were feeding her the great healthy pedigree do you not?????????????
read our other threads on kaya and please get your dog of pedigree now as he/she can not tell you
thanks and good luck
steve rosy and kaya

well i found a place that did has all the foods you guys recommended. wellness, chicken soup, canadie (sp). chicken soup is the cheapest (not by much, cost between them all really isnt too much of a concern for me since there is only like a 5 dollar difference in the 35 pound bags) i was reading the ingredients and chicken soup had what seemed to be alot of good stuff in it. i got a sample bag adn kya seemed to like it. is it really too much good stuff like said above. (is too much good stuff possible)

should i stick with this or wellness (if wellness the chicken or lamb??) or the canadie (which kind also)

i can't feed the chicken soup to my pit because it gives her soft poops, but my mini poodle does fine on it. my cats all eat their cat food and i am very happy with it for them.

my pit eats canidae. she's got a great coat and skin, she looks good, she likes the food, and her poops are nice and solid. it all depends on what works for your dog. dogs will respond differently to different foods, so there isn't really a way to say one food is best for all dogs.

if she likes the chicken soup food and she does well on it, then by all means, if she's happy and you're happy, keep her on that one. if not, try something else. it's kind of all a trial and error kind of thing.